MELANOKHROTOI

Greek Name

Μελανοχρωτος
Μελανοχρωτοι

Transliteration

Melanokhrôtos
Melanokhrôtoi

Roman Name

Nigrus
Nigri

Translation

Black-Skin
Black-Skins

THE MELANOKHROTOI (Melanchroti) were a tribe of black-skinned men who lived in the lands south of Egypt and west of the Nile (i.e. modern-day Sudan). Their king had a single eye set in the middle of his forehead--much like the Kyklops (Cyclops) encountered by Odysseus.

Pliny the Elder, Natural History 6. 195 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) :
"Then come regions [in Africa] that are purely imaginary : towards the west [of Ethiopian Meroe] are the Nigri (Blacks), whose king is said to have only one eye, in his forehead."